Ibn Baz

July 18th, 2008 by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad

A Concise Guide to Another Primary Innovator in Islam

`Abd al-`Aziz ibn `Abd Allah Ibn Baz, the late (d. 1999) nescient mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, government scholar par excellence, and major innovator whose influence on spreading deviant beliefs is incalculable. The present crippling of Islam and Muslims took place under his leadership and as a direct result of his policies as listed by Sayyid Yusuf al-Rifa`i in his Nasiha li Ikhwanina `Ulama’ Najd (“Advice to Our Brothers the Scholars of Najd”):

* Calling the Muslims “Pagans”

* Calling the Muslims “Apostates”

* Calling the Muslims “Deviants”

* Calling the Muslims “Innovators”

* Monopolizing Teaching in Hijaz

* Falsifying Our Scholarly Heritage (see below)

* Libeling Ulema Who Disagreed with Wahhabi Doctrine

* Imposing the Style of Najd in Adhân

* Shutting the Mosque in Madina at Night

* Posting Hoodlums at the Noble Grave

* Obstructing and Scolding Women in Madina

* Blocking Women from Visiting Baqi`

* Police Interrogation Centers

* Razing of the Mosque of Abu Bakr – Allah be well-pleased with him –

* Razing of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari’s House

* Destroying Historical Makka and Madina but Preserving Khaybar

* Replacing Khadija’s House with Latrines

* Outlawing Nasiha to Rulers

* Interdiction of Dala’il al-Khayrat and other books

* Forbidding Mawlid Gatherings

* Etc.

As former overall president of the Directorships of Scholarly Research, Iftâ’, Da`wa, and Irshâd, Ibn Baz is on record for issuing a fatwa declaring as un-Islamic the Palestinian people’s uprising, whereas he never condemned the practices, in his own country, of gambling, horse-racing, and usury. In the late sixties he declared any and all forms of cooperation with the kuffâr prohibited and cast a judgment of apostasy on `Abd al-Nasir for employing a civilian force of a few hundred Russian engineers to build the Aswan dam. In the early nineties he again made it halâl for kufr forces to come, under their flag and sovereignty, in hundred of thousands, to occupy Muslim lands and destroy Iraq, because of “necessity.” There was also no problem for them to stay after the “necessity” was over.

In his infamous al-Adilla al-Naqliyya wa al-Hissiyya `ala Jarayan al-Shamsi wa Sukuni al-Ard (“The Transmitted and Sensory Proofs of the Rotation of the Sun and Stillness of the Earth”), he asserted that the earth was flat and disk-like and that the sun revolved around it.

Like all the anthropomorphists of his School, Ibn Baz added modifiers to the Divine Attributes, asserting, for example, that Allah Most High and Exalted “istawâ `alâ al-`arsh haqqan” – variously translated as “He established Himself over the Throne in person” or “actually” or “literally” – haqqan being an innovated addition which violates the practice of the true Salaf consisting in asserting the Divine Attributes bilâ kayf – without “how” – any modifier being by definition a modality. What is worse, of course, is that such an innovated addition is an avenue to anthropomorphism.

In his footnote to article 38 of Imam al-Tahawi’s `Aqida (“He is beyond having limits placed on Him, or being restricted, or having parts or limbs. Nor is He contained by the six directions as all created entities are”), he asserts, “Allah is beyond limits that we know but has limits He knows.” This is, like haqqan, a true innovation of misguidance and innovated phrase as stated by al-Dhahabi and others, utterly unsupported by the Qur’an, the Sunna, and the Consensus, and violating the practice of the true Salaf who refrained from indulging in speculations of modality whenever they mentioned the Divine Attributes. (This footnote also appears in Shu`ayb Hassan’s translation in English, which also contains other major doctrinal errors.)